Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham speaks to the media after chairing a COBR meeting at Downing Street on the UK’s ongoing response to extreme heat, wildfires and drought, in central London on August 12, 2026. (Photo by Kin Cheung / POOL / AFP)
Britain’s economy slowed in the second quarter, the national statistics office reported Thursday, saying that output remained “robust” despite domestic political unrest and fallout from the US-Iran war.
Gross domestic product increased 0.4 percent in the April-June period after GDP expansion of 0.6 percent in the first quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.
Keir Starmer resigned as British prime minister in late June and was replaced around one month later by Andy Burnham, as the Labour government was overtaken in opinion polls by the hard-right party Reform UK.
Following Thursday’s data, the country’s new finance minister, John Healey, said that under Burnham, Labour was a “hands-on government, putting British interests first — giving breathing space to those feeling the strain, making our country more resilient and bringing hope back”.
